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Payton steps aside

Saints lose one of NFL's best offensive minds

Sean Payton is stepping aside, and that’s a seismic shift for fantasy purposes. He could always be counted on to put together one of the league’s best offenses. He’s long been one of the top few coaches in the game.

Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay. Payton was one of those kind of coaches. In general, when you build your fantasy rosters around coaches of this ilk, good things tend to happen.

Payton was the head coach of the Saints for 15 seasons, and nine of those teams finished in the top 5 in scoring. Only one of his teams ranked lower than 12th in scoring, and it came in the just-completed season, with Payton juggling a menagerie of lesser quarterbacks – Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill, Trevor Siemian and even Ian Book.

Payton took over in New Orleans in 2006, with one Super Bowl title, three NFC Championship game appearances and four teams that won 13 regular-season games. He was suspended for the 2012 season as part of the Bounty Gate scandal.

SEAN PAYTON OVERVIEW
YearTeamWLTPctPtsRk
2006Saints1060.62525.85
2007Saints790.43823.712
2008Saints880.50028.91
2009Saints1330.81331.91
2010Saints1150.68824.011
2011Saints1330.81334.22
2013Saints1150.68825.910
2014Saints790.43825.19
2015Saints790.43825.58
2016Saints790.43829.32
2017Saints1150.68828.04
2018Saints1330.81331.53
2019Saints1330.81328.64
2020Saints1240.75030.15
2021Saints980.52921.419

Payton did his best work with the passing game. In his 15 seasons, the Saints averaged 289 passing yards per game and 33 TD passes per season. Using standard fantasy scoring, nine of his 15 teams finished either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in passing production.

SEAN PAYTON: PASSING PRODUCTION
YearTeamPctYds/GTDIntF PtsRk
2006Saints64.1%289271324.63
2007Saints67.5%276281824.36
2008Saints64.9%317341828.61
2009Saints69.5%281341226.82
2010Saints68.1%290332226.92
2011Saints71.3%344461434.52
2013Saints68.5%323391230.82
2014Saints69.2%298331727.35
2015Saints69.0%325321228.32
2016Saints70.0%329381530.71
2017Saints72.0%27123822.211
2018Saints73.4%26133725.48
2019Saints71.9%27736627.32
2020Saints70.9%24728822.817
2021Saints58.1%202291320.315

The rushing numbers aren’t as eye-popping, but they’re still good. Two thirds of his teams finished with above-average rushing numbers (again, using standard scoring), and nine of his offenses put up top-10 rushing numbers. On his watch, they averaged 113 rushing yards per game and 17 rushing touchdowns per season. Keep in mind that in most of those games, the Saints didn’t get much rushing production out of the quarterback position (with Drew Brees tending to operate from the pocket).

SEAN PAYTON: RUSHING PRODUCTION
YearTeamYd/AttYd/GTDRF PtsRk
2006Saints3.71101912.66
2007Saints3.792149.818
2008Saints4.01002012.510
2009Saints4.51322114.56
2010Saints4.09598.128
2011Saints4.91331612.65
2013Saints3.892108.423
2014Saints4.51141611.78
2015Saints3.8931610.713
2016Saints4.31091711.810
2017Saints4.71292315.11
2018Saints4.31272616.11
2019Saints4.3109129.920
2020Saints4.61423018.32
2021Saints3.91171210.121

I don’t think Payton is done. He’s only 58, making this seem like more of a step back to take a breather. I think he more likely just didn’t like the uphill situation he would have been in with the Saints, with no quarterback and extensive salary cap issues. That’s not a team that’s situated to contend for a Super Bowl in the near future.

I expect Payton will be back in 2023, and he’ll be landing in a far more favorable situation (with the Cowboys looking like the clear frontrunners). Wherever Payton lands, it shouldn’t be long before that team is putting up top-level offensive numbers.

—Ian Allan

13 Reader Comments:

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-01-27T01:46:44Z
The talent in Dallas would be attractive, but I wonder if Payton, who will have multiple suitors, would really want to work with Jerry Jones when he could have more power and less ownership involvement/interference somewhere else.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2022-01-27T02:19:30Z
What would you personally do now if you have Alvin Kamara in a dynasty or keeper league?

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2022-01-27T05:56:19Z
Payton stopped using Alvin Kamara and started using Hill.Payton is retiring a loser.

Matt Morse

Glennallen, AK
2022-01-27T07:29:09Z
Loved his Super Bowl upset over Peyton Mannings Colts, particularly his call for an onside kick to start the 2nd half!

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-01-27T13:21:56Z
He’s not retiring. He’s walking away from an unfavorable situation that he’s largely (partly? Debatable) responsible for. The next head coach might be taking over a perennial contender, but there are age and/or question marks all over the place, and they have given away draft picks for years, as well.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-01-27T15:27:11Z
Regarding the dynasty/keeper question, this doesn’t affect anything for me. Next year, he should still be one of the league’s top all-purpose running backs. Since he turns 27 before the season, he’s getting pretty close to his dynasty pull date no matter who the coach is.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2022-01-27T16:20:35Z
Thank you, Andy. This helps.

David DiGregorio

Norristown, PA
2022-01-27T17:08:26Z
In 2023 he'll coach Dallas.

David Wright

Aliso Viejo, CA
2022-01-27T17:24:21Z
Ben, you aren't too far from the coast in OR, go there and pound sand if you think Payton is a loser. Payton won a Super Bowl, went to three NFC title games, won seven division titles and went to the playoffs nine times. He inherited a situation where the city was recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and in his first year had a team go from 3-13 to the NFC title game and in his fourth year won the Super Bowl.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2022-01-27T18:00:32Z
Saints went 9-8 last year, including a couple of wins over the Bucs. I don't many coaches could have gotten 9 wins out of that team. Payton was one of the top few coaches in the 2021 season, in my opinion.

Dan Prokop

Cottage Grove, MN
2022-01-28T02:55:34Z
Payton knows how bad the situation is in NO and that's why he's "retiring". 75 million over the cap means cutting a lot of big names and signing no one. Add in the fact that Hill seems to have to be the QB and Payton thought that he didn't want to have to deal with that.

Cliff Neville

Somerset, TX
2022-01-28T03:54:42Z
i think he'd have enough sense to stay in new orleans before subjecting himself to a jerry jones, with a stephen who's looking like he might pick up where dad leaves off. jerry doesn't looks for jimmies, tunas or paytons, he wants yes-men, to use the polite term. and then he even threw wade under the bus, who was at least a good (but maybe not great) coach, for the boot-licker who had only that one qualification. no payton to dallas.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2022-01-29T15:52:37Z
My favorite Monday night prime time game was Miami slapping the Saints around with a embarrassing 20-3 win.Payton should have used his famous Bountygate!
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